Chicken

We do laugh. A lot! There's just too much happening that is funny or daft or just frustrating, that makes laughing an integral part of everyday life. Take shops and bars and towns really. There is no doubt that even in the short time we have been travelling, we have visited some lovely wee places. However, if you've not got yourself sorted before midday, then that's it till 2.30. Ferme! And even after they've all had their two and a half hour whatever it is they do, at 7 in the evening everything closes. Maybe it's because we are in rural France and the 'season' is almost over. But come on. They're like ghost towns in the evening, except me an Jake usually. Hunting for a bar somewhere.

There is a third traveler on this trip. You've seen him before, just never really noticed. He's been with us for 10 years and goes everywhere with us and kinda guides our way. You will see him throughout this journey. I just thought I would officially introduce him.

This is Chicken.

What else? We get lost from time to time. Jake is GPS map reading and sometimes, 'you turn left here' is said just as we pass the turning................grumps!!!! So far though, she is doing a grand job and considering where we've been driving, she's an ace co-pilot.

During our last stopover in La Plaine sur Mer, we came across a tiny shop that looked as though it hadn't changed since the 40's. It sold stuff. You could buy one egg. We bought four, although we only bought one lemon. It sold witches brooms and hand made corn dollies and packets and tins that had probably been on the old wooden shelves before sell by dates had been thought of! And running this time machine, was Madam Yvette Salaud who is probably around 85 years young. Not a word of English was spoken between us, but we learned that times are hard as the big supermarkets are taking all her trade. The shop had been her grandfathers and then her fathers and now hers, but there was no-one left to take it over when she was gone. Sad!

When we told her that we came from Scotland, Madam Yvette became very excited and said she collected postcards and that people sent them to her. She showed us what she had received till now. We said that we would send her a card when we got home, but in the meantime we were travelling, so we will send her cards from wherever we go. She wrote out her address which took ages as her hand wasn't steady, but it was a lovely meeting and is what our trip is all about.

We've reached Fouras by the way. It's just a few miles South of La Rochelle and is the last stop before we spend a long weekend in Bordeaux. Today is the first overcast day we've had since we started and we're going to play Crazy Golf this afternoon, so it had better stay dry. There's only one winner in that match.

By the way, one of us started the day with a slight hangover and it wasn't me or Chicken.

A nuisance of the localised interweb is the upload speed. So putting just one photo on here takes around 20 minutes. Hopefully the speed will improve in the city, as we've loads of pics we want to put on. Bear with us on that.

A tout a l'heure.